EXCLUSIVE: Texas lawyer Dick Cheney shot 10 years ago goes quail hunting for the first time since accident — but he still hasn’t gotten an apology from the former VP

Harry Whittington still has pellets lodged into his right cheek and neck from the Feb. 11, 2006 quail hunting accident.

The Texas lawyer Dick Cheney sprayed with birdshot during a traumatic 2006 hunting trip recently bagged his first quail since the terrifying rifle mishap 10 years ago — but there has still never been a vice presidential apology.

Whittington and his family frequently dine on quail, a delicacy in southern Texas hunting households. His wife is making the bird for dinner Thursday, the 10-year anniversary of the accident, although he's not sure how it will be served.

"She's a great cook," he said. "She's got it planned."

Cheney's shot sprayed as many as 200 birdshot pellets into Whittington's face, neck and chest during the 2006 hunting trip at Texas' Armstrong ranch. While the then-vice president admitted that he was "the guy who pulled the trigger," he never said a public "sorry" to his wounded co-hunter.

But a decade later, Whittington defended Cheney's lack of mea culpa.

Whittington, seen here a week after the February 2006 accident, still has pellets lodged in his face 10 years later. (RACHEL DENNY CLOW/AP)

"He never did need to apologize. It was an accident," he told the Daily News. "He expressed his concern about me publically, but he never had reason to apologize because we knew how seriously he was affected by it."

Accidents are common in quail hunting, said Whittington, who hunted for 50 years without incident before the accident.

"It's a fast-acting group that you hunt with. Birds get up fast — they are rapid rising group of birds. It's easy for accidents to happen," he said. "It's unbelievable that I hunted for as long as I had with no accidents whatsoever."

Whittington was airlifted to a Corpus Christie hospital after the shooting in Armstrong, Texas. He spent a week in the intensive unit after one of the pellets near his heart caused a mild heart attack.

"I have no problem getting on airplanes, no problems with security," the 88-year-old joked. "I'm fortunate to be in good health, but these pellets are still in my body."

Advertisement

Recovery from the shooting and then other health issues kept him away from hunting for a decade, he said. He decided to give it another try this year after some encouragement from his son-in-law who wanted to see if the lawyer was still a hunting wiz.

Whittington's first shot — which successfully took down a quail — proved he hasn't lost his touch.

He likely won't be as avid as a hunter as he once was, he said, but he hopes to make another hunting trip soon.

"This is a very good quail year," he said. "If you're a quail hunter, you need to get out there."

Whittington hasn't seen Cheney in several years, although they still exchange birthday greetings and occasional catch-up phone calls. Contrary to media reports at the time, the pair were never "good friends" — they had only met a handful of times before the 2006 hunting trip on the Armstrong Ranch.

But the shooting hasn't tarnished their casual relationship, Whittington assured.

"No hard feelings at all," he said. "I hope to see him sometime soon."